UK defense, intensity fade in second half
Kentucky forward Karl-Anthony Towns scores during the first half of the University of Kentucky vs. Grand Canyon University men’s basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., on Friday, November 14, 2014 Photo by Jonathan Krueger
November 15, 2014
By Kyle Arensdorf
Although UK Basketball didn’t get the “much needed” adversity head coach John Calipari was looking for, it gained some experience Friday night against a Grand Canyon team that was able to match its physicality.
UK was dominant defensively in the first half, but the Antelopes learned they could compete against the Cats and made a fight out of the second half.
“We competed the whole game, I just thought we figure it out a little bit more (in the second half),” Grand Canyon head coach Dan Majerle said. “We went to a spread offense in the second half and just tried to drive and things loosened up.”
Calipari didn’t pull as many punches as Majerle and saw more problems with UK’s defense and its inability to adjust to the Antelopes’ physicality.
“They just said drive the ball,” Calipari said. “The other thing that happened is they got physical, and it became a little bit of a fight. We had guys not being able to make plays, they walked and they missed one-footers. The game got physical, and that’s going to be the problem for us.”
By halftime, Grand Canyon had only managed to make six of its 24 field goal attempts and was out-rebounded by the Cats 27-12.
“It’s a learning process for us,” Majerle said. “The first 20 minutes maybe we were shell shocked at their length and their size and we just couldn’t score.”
Grand Canyon scored 16 points off of its six buckets in the first half and was held scoreless by UK’s second platoon.
“The first group did a great job of wearing them down at the start of the game,” freshman guard and second platoon point guard Tyler Ulis said. “We got in there and tried to put more pressure on them and tried to force turnovers.”
The second half wasn’t nearly as dominant for the Cats as the first, as the Antelopes were able to hang 29 points on UK and only lost the second half by 13 points.
“They scored too many points on us,” Ulis said. “Considering (the second platoon) held them scoreless in the first half, I feel like we came out a little lazy in the second half.”
Grand Canyon’s 16 points in the first half was just four more points than sophomore guard Andrew Harrison scored in the half.
Harrison came out firing early Friday night, grabbing the first seven points of the game for the Cats.
After setting the tone for his team, he backed off slightly and allowed the other players to get into a rhythm.
Harrison’s next field goal came at the 14-minute mark of the second half. But when the Cats needed someone to put the game away, he was able to step up in a big way.
“It’s on me to keep those guys energized no matter how much we’re up by and keep them playing hard,” Harrison said. “You have to make sure (as a leader) that your energy is high.”
